Cabinet



J. R. CLARK April 21, 1936,

CABINET Filed June 11, 1934 Ill-Illlll-nlllllllllFll 1111lllllTLFiilrll M V s m E ma. um ER MT mw Wm m wmwm 2 /H m d i m mi f n n I r \l 3 d Patented Apr. 21, 1936 PATENT orrics CABINET James R. Clark, Yawman, & Rochester, N. Y.,

Rochester, N. Y., assignor to The Erbe Manufacturing Company,

a corporation of New York Application June 11, 1934, Serial No. 729,976

1 Claim.

This'invention relates to cabinets designed to receive trays or drawers in which are filed cards or the like. The improvements will be described in connection with a cabinet of a type in general use but-which, by virtue of the improvements lends itself to greater emciency on the part of the operator and the carrying on of the business in which the cabinet is used with greater speed and economy of floor space.

In existing practices, the cards or other records may be sorted into appropriate trays or drawers and the different drawers or trays when filled carried elsewhere for further operations on the material. The cabinets now in use are open at the front to receive the trays which are arranged in banks and freely withdrawn partially by the operator at the front of the cabinet to enable the record to be inserted in its proper place. Periodically, those trays which are filled are collected by a messenger being withdrawn from the cabinet through the open front. Unfilled trays may be inserted in place of those thus removed. The operations involved in the collection of the trays in this manner greatly reduce the efliciency of the system being practiced because the messenger interrupts the operator who must stand aside while the trays are being removed, there is no practical signal to indicate to the messenger which trays are to be removed upon his arrival and so they must be designated by the operator, and ample aisle space at the front of the cabinet must be provided so that the messenger can move along freely without contact with the operator or operators. 4

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved cabinet which will permit the removal of the trays by the messenger from the rear side of the cabinet and will prevent his withdrawal of' any trays that the operator does not wish withdrawn.

A further object of the invention is to provide in such a cabinet means whereby the operator at the front can control effectively the withdrawal of the trays by means of a locking device therefor which is controllable only from the front of the cabinet.

A further object of the invention is to provide for the signalling of the attention of the messenger at the rear of the cabinet for the withdrawal of particular trays, such signals being established automatically when the trays to be withdrawn are released by the operator at the front of the cabinet. More particularly, the invention is concerned with the accomplishment of. the general objects stated above by means which are simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and certain in operation.

The invention will be described in connection with the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view in front elevation showing a cabinet of conventional form with series of trays mounted therein on slidable shelves.

Figure 2 is a view in horizontal section through the cabinet shown in Figure 1 and taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1 and illustrating the improved construction of the cabinet and suitable locking mechanism for the individual trays whereby the principal objects of the invention may be accomplished.

Figure 3 is a view in vertical section through one of the trays and taken on the planes indicated by the broken lines 3--3 of Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows, the tray being locked in place.

Figure 4 is a view similar generally to Figure 3 but taken on the planes indicated by the broken lines 4-4 of Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows, the tray being shown in its position when unlocked.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view in transverse section through adjoining trays shown in Figure 2 and taken on the planes indicated by the lines 5--5 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

The cabinet illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 is composed generally of side walls a, b, and a top wall 0, there being a base, of course, which is not illustrated. In the cabinet are mounted a plurality of transversely extending supports d-for the trays or drawers e, e, e e etc. In the cabinet shown the supports d are formed as slidable shelves having handles d by which any one shelf with the plurality of trays supported thereon may be withdrawn by the operator. However, the invention is not concerned with the character of the supports for the trays. The

front end of each shelf maybe provided with a vertically disposed flange d which limits the forward movement of the trays. When the trays are in their forward positions they are locked against rearward movement. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that many different types of locking mechanism operable only by the operator at the front of the cabinet may be employed' but that illustrated is extremely simple and effective. Each tray has one or more openings e therein. Each supporting member, that is to say, each shelf (1 carries detents 11 adapted to enter the openings e The detents d shown in the drawing are struck up from'the shelves (1 which are of metal and present a rearwardly inclined face d and an upstanding forward edge d which engages the forward edge of the opening c The cabinet is so constructed as to leave its rear side open with the shelves and rear ends of the trays exposed. When the operator at the front of the cabinet desires to have a tray removed by the messenger the tray is lifted at its forward edge until the detent d is disengaged from the opening e in the bottom of the tray and the tray is slid rearwardly at least until the opening is out of line with the detent. Ordinarily, the tray will be slid rearwardly until the front wall is disposed to the rear of the detent. The supporting shelves (1 are preferably of the same depth as the cabinet. The trays are of less depth. When any of the trays are thus disengaged from their detents by the operator at the front and moved rearwardly their rear ends will be out of line with the rear ends of the remaining trays that are in normal positions. This automatically directs the messengers attention to those trays that are to be withdrawn. However, the depth of the supporting shelves with relation to the length of thetrays is such that the trays to be withdrawn will not protrude beyond the rear edges of the shelves. This is a desirable relationship since it leaves the space to the rear of the cabinet uninterrupted and prevents accidental contact of the messenger with the tray. Such engagement would not only be annoying but might thrust the tray forward a sufficient extent to reengage the openings e with the detents d thereby preventing the withdrawal of the tray by the messenger. When the trays released by the operator have been withdrawn by the messenger it is evident that other trays can be inserted by him from the rear. They will be slid forwardly until the detents are engaged with the openings.

All of the operations described are carried on wholly without interference with the operator at the front of the cabinet. The aisle space in the front of the cabinet may be reduced because it is not used by the messenger. The operator at the front automatically indicates which trays are to be withdrawn by the simple act of unlocking them for withdrawal from the rear. The act of thus unlocking the trays requires them to be moved into such position as to attract the messenger's attention. The messenger's work of removing trays and inserting trays is carried on wholly without interference of the operator at the front.

Changes in the details of construction of the cabinet and in the type of locking mechanism employed may be made without departing from the invention.

I claim as my invention:

A cabinet having top and side walls, the front and back of the cabinet being open,- slidable shelves-mounted in the cabinet and of equal depth therewith, a plurality of trays supported on each shelf and of less depth than the shelves, detents carried on the shelves and engaging the trays, in their forward positions, each of said trays being free to move upwardly at its front edge to disengage it from the detent and movable rearwardly out of line with the detent to indicate at the rear end that its removal is permissible.

JALJES R. CLARK. 

